And Darkness Shall Swallow All
by fangirlsruineverything2
Summary: After the Shoku was chosen, Master Fung selected a new student to join the temple.  The problem?  He has no real elemental skill, and Fung  leaves it to the dragons to train him.  Meanwhile, a powerful new enemy appears, and alligns himself with Spicer.
1. A Newcomer

**A/N: So, this is my first Xiaolin Showdown fic, so if any of you readers find something off just send me a review, and I'll try to fix whatever the problem is in my writing. Anyway, for this I've decided to pull a bit of a cliche with a fifth member joining the group, though I'll try to avoid him being a super-character. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of the characters, aside from the OCs. Anyway, sit back and enjoy.**

Chapter 1 A Newcomer

Raimundo and Omi were sparring again. After punching and kicking a few times, Omi flipped back and shouted, "Wudai Neptune Water!" A giant wave was sent flying towards his leader. Raimundo quickly began gathering chi to perform his own move.

"Wudai Star Wind!" he exclaimed. The air around him warped, and as the water hit it, the water rotated around the wind dragon and went flying back to Omi.

Omi concentrated and shouted, "Ice!" The wave froze in place, and Omi jumped to the side of the frozen wave, pulling out the Orb of Tornami. Raimundo saw him coming and pulled out his Blade of the Nebula. They both sent blasts from their weapons which met between them. Omi jumped above where the water and wind were crashing to attack Raimundo.

Raimundo took his own wu out and said, "Ruby of Ramses." Omi attempted to dodge in midair, but the telekinesis still caught him and pushed him against a wall.

"Raimundo! Omi!" a voice called. The two stopped and turned.

"What is it Master Fung? Is a new shen gong wu going active?" asked Omi.

"No, Omi," Master Fung said, shaking his head, as Kimiko and Clay joined them. "However, I have a found a new student that will join us here at the temple."

"Is that a good idea?" asked Raimundo. "I mean this new guy'll have no training whatsoever. Will he be ale to keep up with us?"

"Yeah, it'll be like a year old pony racing against a fully trained stallion," added Clay.

"This is my decision," said Master Fung, looking from Raimundo to Clay. "He will catch up to you in time."

"As always, Master Fung is most wise," Omi said.

Kimiko sighed and said, "OK, I think we can keep our doubts to ourselves. Where is this guy, anyway?"

Fung led them to the shen gong wu vault, where someone had their back to them.

"Hello, friend!" Omi said cheerfully. "Could you please turn around and show us your face?"

The boy turned around. He was around Rai's height, with lightly tanned skin, jet black hair that had been slicked back, golden eyes, an unzipped, brown leather jacket, with a green shirt underneath, and blue jeans.

"Young monks," said Fung, gesturing towards the new boy. "This is Xander."

"'Ello, mates!" Xander said in a strong British accent, grinning at them.

"Hello, Xander," said Omi with a bow. "I am Omi. I am the greatest of the Xiaolin dragons. I am stronger, swifter, and smarter than any before me!"

"Omi, right?" asked Xander, with humor in his eyes. "If all that's true, then," Xander pointed at Raimundo, "why does he have the cool outfit?"

Omi stopped and went wide-eyed, much to the laughter of the other three. "Go on, Omi," said Kimiko. "Tell him."

Omi sighed and said, "Because he's a shoku warrior." Blushing, he stepped back and let the others introduce themselves.

"Name's Raimundo," Rai said, shaking Xander's hand. "I'm the Xiaolin leader, but Omi's so used to proclaiming he's the greatest that we just let it slide."

"All righty," said Xander. "Who's the big guy?" he asked, nodding at Clay.

"Howdy," said Clay, shaking Xander's hand as well. "My name's Clay."

"Pleasure, Clay," Xander said with a grin that was becoming commonplace. "Last, but not least, who's the lady?"

"Oh," said Kimiko, taken aback at being addressed as 'lady.' "I'm Kimiko."

"Charmed," Xander said in reply. "So, now that we're all introduced, what do we do now?"

"Simple!" proclaimed Omi, sticking a finger in the air. "We commence with your training at once, so you will be able to competently combat the forces of evil alongside us!"

Xander blinked a few times and turned to the other three and asked, "Is he always this hyper?"

Kimiko shrugged and said, "Yeah, pretty much."

Rai shrugged and said, "Omi still has a point. Come on, let's see what you can do."

As they lead Xander to the training field, someone else was busy working on his 'minions.'

Jack sighed as he looked at what he'd done so far. Most of his robots were operational; he just had to turn them on. He wanted to create a few more before his army was completed, though.

As he went to connect the wires to a circuit board, he heard something creaking behind him. Whipping around, he saw a shadow dart across the wall.

"Jackbots, attack!" he called, before remembering they were all shut off. Sighing he muttered, "Fine. I'll handle this myself." Reaching under the table he'd been working on, he grabbed his single remaining wu.

"Monkey Staff," he said, and turned into a monkey version of himself. He snuck along the side of his layer, until he heard the creaking again. Giving a primate war cry, he leaped towards the sound. Grabbing his foe, the two tussled in the darkness and rolled into the light, revealing to Jack that his opponent was none other than …

"Tubbimura?"

"Hello, Jack Spicer, I wished to speak with you," said the obese ninja.

The two stood up as Jack asked, "So, then, why didn't you just knock on the door?"

"'Cause, Jack," said a third voice from the shadows. "We're evil villains. We don't work that way."

"Great," Jack said with a groan, "you're here too, Ashley. What do the two of you want?"

"We have a proposition," began Tubbimura. "We still wish for power, which together the three of us can obtain."

"Right," said Katnappe. "You obviously still have the Monkey Staff, Jack."

"How's that important?" Jack shot back.

"Because," a totally new, distorted voice said, "we'll get all the wu from the monks with that."

"Who's there?" asked Jack, after letting out a monkey screech of fear. He turned to where the voice came from, gripping the Monkey Staff.

"Hold, Jack Spicer," said Tubbimura, holding up a restraining hand. "He's here with us."

The mysterious figure walked forward into the light. He was a tan-skinned person around 20. He had combed, brown hair, with pupils that seemed entirely black. He wore a black trench coat that went from his shoulders down to his ankles. But the strangest thing was what was at his mouth. He had some bizarre machine that covered his mouth entirely, and gave his voice a garbled tone to it.

"My name is Iarmendal," said the stranger.

"Ok, how did you all manage to sneak into my house?" asked Jack.

"We only sneaked into your lair, Jack," answered Katnappe. "Your mom let us in the house."

"What?" exclaimed Jack.

"Hai," responded Tubbimura. "Her snickerdoodles are delicious."

"Silence!" barked Iarmendal. "Now that all of us are here, I would like you to tell me every thing you know about the Xiaolin monks. My plans revolve around them in particular."

**A/N: A few quick things here, yes, Xander is British, no, he is not based off of me. As for Iarmendal, the main thing I should probably mention is what I mean with his voice. If any of you have seen the new "Get Smart" movie, think of the scene where the head of KAOS calls Sigfreid and he's done something to disguise his voice; that's basically what Iarmendal's done with his voice, I just couldn't think of a better word than 'garbled.' Anyway, I know there wasn't any real action in this, but that'll start up next chapter, so review and let me know what you think.**


	2. Hidden Threat

**A/N: This took me a little while to write, but anyway, the action will finally start up in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: All properties of Xiaolin Showdown belong to Christy Hui.**

Chapter 2 Hidden Threat

It had been two weeks since Xander had joined the temple. He already knew a good bit of kung fu, but, as Omi was swift to point out, not as much as the others. He had been focusing more of his training on the wu.

Xander aimed at the target dummy at far end of the field. "Eye of Dashi!" Lightning seared forth and blasted the dummy.

"Nice aim, dude!" Raimundo complimented, as Xander placed the Eye back into the chest.

"Thanks, mate," said Xander. He pulled another wu out of the chest and asked, "What's this one?"

"Ah," exclaimed Omi, "that is the Thorn of Thunderbolt. It is very useful for going on the offensive."

"Thorn of Thunderbolt, got it," said Xander with a nod. Aiming at a second dummy, he said the wu's name. Lightning seared forth and blasted the dummy.

Xander looked at his wu, then turned to the other monks and asked, "Why the 'eck do we have two wu that do the same blooming thing?"

"Well, partner," said Clay, putting his arm around Xander's shoulders, "I have no idea."

Dojo slithered over to Xander's side and said, "Hey, there's a difference. The Eye of Dashi shoots forth unlimited amounts of electricity, whereas the Thorn of Thunderbolt shoots a short burst that's twice as strong."

"Yeah, you just made that up," said Raimundo.

"So, anyway," Xander said before Dojo could retaliate, "we sure seem to have a lot of wu. Do we have all of them?"

As the other four shrugged, Dojo said, "Out of the one's that are active, we're only missing four: the Monkey Staff, the Wings of Tinabi, the Sands of Time, and the Hoduku Mouse."

"Who has that lot?" asked Xander.

"Well, the Monkey Staff belongs to Jack Spicer," said Kimiko.

"Jack who?"

"Spicer," said Clay, "he's a self-proclaimed evil boy genius. He's a horrible fighter though."

"Oh, yes," said Omi nodding. "Jack is truly impossible to assume about underly."

Xander nodded and said, "OK, wait, Omi, mate, what did you say?"

Having been at the temple, Xander had become accustomed to Omi's attempts at slang. That had been a new one though.

"I think he meant 'Jack is impossible to underestimate,'" Raimundo translated.

"Do not be so sure, young monks," said Master Fung walking towards the group. "In the past, Jack Spicer has proven to be a formidable adversary when aided with the Monkey Staff."

"Pah," Omi scoffed. "We are Wudai warriors, well, except for Xander. We are not afraid of Jack as a monkey!"

"Dude, I'm a _Shoku_ warrior," Raimundo reminded Omi.

"Ahem," Master Fung interrupted before they could start an argument again. "Xander, you have a package from home."

Xander took the package held up by Master Fung and said, "Leave it to me mum to start missing me and sending random mementos after two weeks." Looking at the tag he frowned. "Odd … it's from my dad." Unwrapping the package, he opened the box inside. He paused, seeing what his dad had given him.

"Xander, bud," said Clay walking up to him, "what'd he send you?"

"Cor," Xander said under his breath. "I finally get one for my own."

"Get one of what for your own?" asked Omi, trying to see the contents of the box, which Xander was holding just over his round head.

Xander removed the contents of the box, revealing a long, black cane with a silver handle at the top. "A cane?" exclaimed Omi. "But you do not have a limp."

"This isn't for walking aid, mate," Xander explained. "In England, this is a mark that you're in the Doe family."

"Your last name is Doe?" asked Raimundo. "Like a female deer?"

"Clay," Master Fung interrupted again, "you have received a letter."

Clay opened a letter and started reading. "Hey, it's from Jessie! She says she's sending us the Wings of Tinabi!"

"Guess she's done borrowing it," said Kimiko with a shrug.

"Bout time," said Raimundo. "She had the Wings for like, what, a year and a half?"

"C'mon, kiddos," said Dojo, transforming into his larger self. "Get yourselves changed and we'll head down to the mail service center to pick up the Wings."

"Whoa," Xander whistled. "That's impressive! You guys never told me he could change sizes!"

"Well, I am rather magnificent, aren't I?" Dojo gloated as the other four dragons rolled their eyes.

Meanwhile, in an evil layer, a monkey boy was dangling from the ceiling. "Look, Iar," said Jack. "You guys have been here for two weeks and we haven't done anything! When are going to start working evil and mayhem?"

"When the next wu reveals itself," Iarmendal said, looking at an electronic map of the world. "You're sure this thing works, Spicer?"

"Positive," said Jack. "I've been using that new version of the Detect-o-bot for months. It'll tell us when and where a new wu is activating."

"But it has done nothing in all the time we have been here," said Tubbimura.

"So? Sometimes there are intervals in-between activations," Jack said in defense.

Jack's head snapped over to his computer as a beep went off. Walking over to it, he read the message box. "Finally," he sighed. "Come on guys, we've got to get to mail office in Hong Kong."

"Um, why would we do that?" asked Katnappe, crossing her arms.

"I've been keeping an eye on the mail going through that place for over a year now, ever since the mess with Clay's sister happened."

"The dragon of earth has a sister?" asked a surprised Tubbimura.

"Well, I found out that she'd been holding on to the Wings of Tinabi, and it just got sent to the monks," Jack explained.

"You three go, I'll stay," said Iarmendal.

"Dude, if you're going to act like our boss, you should at least come with us to get our wu," complained Jack.

"Relax," said Iarmendal, rolling his eyes. "A week ago, I put some tracers on your goggles, Spicer. Using this device here," Iarmendal paused as he pulled out a flat box that had a giant view-screen on the top of it, "I can see anything that goes on with you guys. And with this in your ear," Iarmendal handed Jack a device that looked like a miniature hearing aid, "I can speak to you directly. Now go!"

"Wait, where'd you get all this?" asked Jack, placing the tiny hearing aid in his ear.

"I made it," explained Iarmendal.

"You can make electronic devices, too?"

"I can, but I usually don't. Now get to Hong Kong already!"

Dojo was flying over China with the five on his back. "You know," said Clay, tapping his chin, "why does no one ever freak out about a dragon flying overhead?"

"Wait, you mean no one ever notices a giant, blinking dragon?" asked Xander in surprise.

"Guys, this is China," Raimundo reminded them. "The only thing more common here than dragons is kung fu."

"And rice," Dojo muttered. He angled himself down and they headed towards the post office.

As they walked into the office, Raimundo noticed that they were getting a lot of strange looks. Not that he could blame the people really, they were a total motley crew. Omi had stayed in his robes, and Raimundo had decided to stay in his shoku robes as well. Clay wore his standard cowboy outfit while Xander wore the outfit he had met them in and was walking with his cane. Kimiko though, she had her hair in a ponytail, and had it in its usual color, but the ponytail was orange. She wore a regular blue shirt and green jeans (green jeans, that's regular), with a camouflage jacket on around herself.

"Geez, this place is huge," he sighed. "How are we supposed to find our package?"

Omi walked towards a desk that had a sign written in Chinese on it. Dojo looked at the sign from Raimundo's shoulder and said in a sarcastic tone, "You know, Omi's on to something. The 'HELP' desk is probably the best place to start."

"Excuse us for not reading Chinese," Kimiko shot back as they headed towards Omi.

"Pardon me, ma'am," Omi said to the lady behind the desk. "My friends and I are looking for a package headed for the Xiaolin temple."

"We usually send those to the temple without anyone coming here to pick it up," said the woman in a confused tone.

"Yeah, sorry about the confusion, but this is one we want to see the delivery of personally," Raimundo explained.

The woman raised an eyebrow and then picked up a phone and began to dial. She spoke into the phone. "Hey, Lao, do we have a package waiting to be sent to the Xiaolin temple? Hmm. Uh-huh, I'll ask them." She turned to the monks and asked, "Whose the package from?"

"It should be from a Ms. Jesse Bailey," Clay answered.

"The package should be from a Bailey, Jesse," the woman said into the phone. "All right, send it on up, thanks." She hung up the phone and looked at the monks. "It'll be up here in about five minutes."

A little while later, the five were lounging in the waiting area, and Omi was attempting to teach Xander how to play Chinese Checkers.

Xander looked at board and muttered, "I really don't get this. Can't we just play chess? We both know that one."

"Excuse me," said a voice. The looked up to see a man walking towards them carrying a box. "Are you the guys from the temple?"

"That'd be us," said Kimiko.

"Alright, I'm gonna need one of you guys to sign here," the man said, holding up a clipboard with a sheet of paper.

"I'll sign it," said Raimundo taking the clipboard. He signed his name on quickly and took the box.

Clay looked at the ceiling and suddenly said, "Hey, do you guys hear that?"

The rest looked up as a loud humming sound came from above.

"Are we near an airport?" Dojo asked.

The delivery man opened his mouth, but his answer went unsaid, as a giant explosion ripped the ceiling to shreds. A black jet was hovering over the building, and the see-through cockpit opened. "Tremble before the might of Jack Spicer, Xiaolin losers!"

Xander raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is this the Spicer bloke you were talking about?"

"Please, Jack Spicer, you know full well you will suffer a most humiliating defeat at our hands!" exclaimed Omi.

"Guess again, cheddar-head!" shouted Jack, as he pressed a button on the jet's control panel. A section of the jet's underbelly opened up and five Jack-bots flew out of the jet.

"Just five?" Omi asked in a mocking tone. "Let's go! Wudai Orion formation!"

Omi looked at the others, wondering why they didn't join in. "Omi," said Clay, "Raimundo's the head of this rodeo now. He calls the shots."

"Very well," said Omi with a sigh. "Raimundo?"

"I want to see how well the new guy can fight these things, actually," said Raimundo, using his thumb to point at Xander.

"Fine," said Xander. "I love a good sport." He cracked his knuckles and grabbed his cane.

"What? Who is this guy?" asked Jack. When no one answered he continued, "Ah, whatever. Jack-bots! Attack!"

The robots flew towards Xander. He looked at his cane, grabbed the sliver handle, and pulled on it. The shining metal elongated and soon disconnected from the black wood.

"Wait, you keep a sword in that cane, Xander?" asked Clay.

"Naturally," replied Xander, pointing the narrow blade at the oncoming robots. "Every male in my family is trained to fight with these."

Xander narrowed his eyes and concentrated his chi for the minimal control he had over the element Master Fung had told him he would be the dragon of. "Lightning!"

Xander leaped at the robots at a much faster speed than most people moved at, dodging every blast sent at him from their cannons. As he passed each robot he would slash it at a speed where no one even saw the hit, but the robot fell to pieces all the same. At the last robot, he jumped on its shoulders and stabbed his sword into its head. He pulled his sword out and jumped off the robot before it crashed into the ground.

"Would you join the fight, already?" Jack asked someone over his shoulder.

"Who are you talking to, Jack?" Kimiko taunted. "Your imaginary friend?"

Jack smirked and a black form jumped from the jet. "Meow!" the girl said as she stood up.

Kimiko groaned and said, "Katnappe, why do you insist on doing the whole cat thing?"

Xander pointed his sword at Katnappe and said, "I hope you're more of challenge than you look, chickee."

"Well, my girls certainly are," said Katnappe, smirking at Xander. "Kitties attack!"

Ten white kittens landed in front of Xander, their fur bristling. Xander lowered his sword and said, "Seriously? At least the robots had guns!"

"Xander!" Raimundo shouted. "Those aren't regular kittens! They're…"

His line was left unsaid as the kittens leaped on Xander, forcing him to the ground, clawing for all they were worth.

"Genetically altered super-kittens," Katnappe finished with a smirk.

"Wudai Star Wind!" Raimundo shouted and blew the kittens off of his friend. As he lowered his hands and placed the package down, a gargantuan form suddenly landed on him, forcing him to the ground. "What the-? Tubbimura?"

Rocks broke through the wall and onto Clay's hands as he shouted, "Wudai Crater Earth!" He punched Tubbimura, who flew back five feet, bounced on the floor and ricocheted back towards the dragons.

"Wudai Neptune Water!" shouted Omi, and a blast of water from nearby water fountains crashed into the obese ninja from multiple directions.

Katnappe leaped in to join the fray. Kimiko jumped towards her shouting "Wudai Mars Fire!" Fire generated on her hands and feet, and the two girls began trading blows. Kimiko landed both hands on Katnappe's gut, and Katnappe was forced back by a column of flame.

Xander staggered to his feet and looked up at the jet. "That's odd," he muttered. "Where'd that Spicer bloke go?" Looking over the battle, he saw Jack using his helipack to fly over the fight. "Where is that git going?" He looked at the direction Jack was heading in and he understood. "Mates! Jack's going for the wu!"

Omi looked away from his attack on Tubbimura and saw Jack landing where Raimundo had placed the box down before fighting.

Jack ripped the top of the box off and held up the wu inside. "The Wings of Tinabi are mi—what the?" Jack said, as the Wings began to glow.

Jack looked over at Omi, who had just grabbed the wu as well. "I challenge you, Jack Spicer, to a Xiaolin Showdown!"

"All right, I accept," said Jack. "My Monkey Staff for your… Ok, which of your many wu do I want?"

"Wait," said Omi, "this was just going to be a delivery job. I didn't bring any wu!"

Raimundo reached into his tunic and pulled out two wu. "I brought the Silk Spinner and the Thorn of Thunderbolt."

"All right," said Jack. "The Monkey Staff for the Thorn of Thunderbolt."

"The first to catch the Wings wins!" exclaimed Omi. "Let's go!"

"Xiaolin showdown!" the two exclaimed together.

The earth beneath them suddenly ripped out of the ground, rose through the hole in the ceiling and shot into space.

Xander whistled and said, "You guys never mentioned that this happened in a showdown." He looked at himself and exclaimed, "Whoa! How'd I get back in my robes?" He looked at the others and nearly shouted. "How'd you guys get the ninja gear?"

"You get it at the apprentice rank," Dojo explained from his perch on Raimundo's shoulders.

Raimundo took a glance around the stage. He saw himself, Dojo, Kim, Clay, Xander, Tubbimura, Katnappe, and … _the delivery guy?_

"Odd," he muttered. "Where are Omi and Jack?"

As if in answer, two beams of light appeared at the center of the stage. They quickly formed into the two combatants. "Gong Yi Tanpai!" they both shouted.

There was a rumbling and the Wings of Tinabi shot out from the ground in-between the enemies, leaving the rainbow trail behind. As it soared into the sky, the crack it had formed began spreading across the giant heap of rock, until the whole thing shattered.

Dojo quickly enlarged himself, and most of the spectators leaped to his back with ease. Xander and the delivery guy, however, simply started falling. Dojo dived after them and caught them both.

"Not bad for a two-footed dragon, huh?" he asked as he soared back towards the showdown.

"Let's not do that again," Xander gasped out as he hung in Dojo's left hand.

At the showdown, the rock had burst into several floating rock chunks, one of which Omi had leapt to as the rock had shattered. Jack had transformed to a monkey and wrapped his tail around another chunk. As he hung upside down he looked up to see the Wings headed towards him.

"Thorn of Thunderbolt!" shouted Omi, blasting the rock Jack was hanging from. Jack flipped as he fell, and landed squarely on another rock. Looking up he saw Omi leaping from rock to rock, trying to catch the elusive wu.

Using his monkey prowess, Jack jumped after Omi, and reached him in a few seconds, head-butting him in the stomach. He turned to grab the Wings, but they abruptly changed course and shot upwards.

Omi had crashed onto a nearby chunk of rock and looked up to see Jack jumping towards the Wings. "Wudai Neptune Water!" he shouted, and water blasted in a column out of his hand. Jack looked over in time to see the water and screeched. The water hit him full force and blasted him away.

Jack hurtled through the rock chunks, before using his tail to wrap around one and fling him back towards the Wings. He landed safely on another piece of rock and saw Omi was almost at the Wings, which had ceased moving upwards and was simply moving in a circle. "What do I do now?" he sighed.

A voice went off in his ear. "Jack? This is Iar. Throw the monkey staff right at the little guy and knock him away. Then use your helipack to get the Wings."

"Good idea," said Jack, letting out a screech. "Why didn't I think of it?"

"I can't possibly imagine," Iar said, who, even with his garbled voice, was dripping with sarcasm that Jack completely missed. "Now do it!"

Omi reached his hand out to grasp the Wings. "Ha! Victory is …" Before he could finish, he felt something slam into his rib cage, sending him flying away. He flew out of the rock field into space. Just before he began to fall, he slammed into something scaly. He quickly climbed onto Dojo to get his bearings. "What happened?" he asked.

"Looks like Jack threw his Staff at you," said Raimundo, pointing down. Omi looked and saw the Monkey Staff falling away, along with something else. He groaned, realizing it was the Thorn of Thunderbolt.

"Yeah! Go Jack!" shouted Katnappe, who was sitting right next to Omi.

Tubbimura, who was sitting on her other side said, "I thought you hated him."

"I do, but we kind of need him to win."

Omi looked over and saw Jack gaining on the Wings with his helipack, and the Wings were simply moving horizontally. He grinned as he saw that the Wings were headed for him. He leaped from Dojo's side back to the chunks of rock, and began jumping and flipping his way through.

Raimundo quickly noticed that Omi was moving much faster than Jack's helipack. "Looks like the little guy's gonna get there first."

Indeed, Omi was just inches away from the wu now, and he stretched out his arms to grab it. The wu, however, seemed to notice Omi's presence and abruptly about-faced, and then flew straight into Jack's waiting arms.

The flashes signifying that a showdown had ended went off, and everything returned to normal at the post office. Well, except for the giant hole in the ceiling and the people running around screaming.

Jack held up the Wings in one hand and clutched the Monkey Staff and Thorn of Thunderbolt in the other. Jack cackled and said, "Yes! Jackpot for Jack!" Katnappe and Tubbimura each placed a hand on his shoulder as he called out, "Wings of Tinabi!" The three rose through the air and landed in Jack's jet. "Later, losers!" The jet quickly shot off.

Omi hung his head and groaned. "I have suffered a most humiliating defeat."

The others were about to comfort the water dragon, when they heard a surprising shout. "That does it!" yelled the delivery guy, who had surprisingly stayed quiet for the entire showdown. "I quit! I have seen enough mystical stuff in this city to last me a lifetime! I'm moving to Beijing, nothing crazy ever happens there!"

Dojo and the five warriors watched in surprise as the man stormed out, then Omi hung his head and sighed again.

Later, as Dojo flew them back to the temple, Kimiko tied again to cheer up the depressed warrior. "Come on, Omi, it's not that bad. You win some, lose some."

"Yeah, mate," Xander put in. "It was just bad luck that those rainbow wings turned around when they did."

"No, it was more than that that cost me the showdown," said Omi. "When Jack threw the Monkey Staff at me, I should have been paying attention to what he was doing, but I did not believe him to be a threat when I was that close to victory. I assumed underly about him."

"Underestimated," said Clay unhelpfully.

Meanwhile, two pairs of eyes were watching them return to the temple. A witch and a warlock were using that strange eyeball-like pedestal to spy on the monks.

"We should have been there," hissed Wuya in annoyance.

"No," responded Chase, holding his hand up. "By the time we got there the battle would have been over, and we would have no way of knowing who won."

"True," said Wuya. "We would have just guessed that the monks had won. I'm surprised Jack won that showdown. He usually doesn't think of obvious under-handed tricks like that."

"Yes," agreed Chase, touching the eyeball, which shifted to Jack's house. "I think Jack might have had some hidden help." The view of the eyeball moved into the house and went to the basement.

To both Chase and Wuya's surprise, there spying technique was blocked by a wall of purple shadow. Chase regained his composure quickly and waved his hand. The eyeball sank back into the ground.

"Who could block us from seeing anything with our abilities?" asked Wuya.

"I can think of two possibilities, neither of which are too likely," said Chase. Wuya waited patiently for him to go on. "The more likely of the two would be our old friend Hannibal. He could have figured out a way to block our sight, but I don't think he's too likely to use Jack to take over the world, except as a slave of some sort."

"You mean like when he used a combination of different shen gong wu to create an army of zombie jacks?" asked Wuya. When Chase nodded she asked another question. "Who's the other possibility?"

"An apprentice of mine from about a year before we met," answered Chase. "He was a very fast learner of the heylin arts. He almost never stopped to eat or drink. He could have easily found a way to block out my sight of a certain area when he was training under me."

"Why is Hannibal more likely than this apprentice of yours?"

"Because, a month before I met you and the Spicer worm, he died. I went through his room later, and found some syringes. My apprentice, Iarmendal, had, unbeknownst to me, been a drug addict, and died of an overdose."

Meanwhile, in Jack's basement, Iarmendal contemplated his next move. There were specific wu he would need, but none of them were active, so he would have to come up with some smaller things for his helpers to do to make them think he wasn't just lying around.

Speak of the devil, Jack and the other two came down the stairs into the lair. "Iar!" Jack called. "Mission accomplished!"

"Well done," said Iarmendal, noticing how Jack seemed to bask in the simple compliment. He had a funny feeling Jack wasn't usually congratulated, but as he understood it, Jack didn't usually do things right anyway. "It's time we moved to the next part of our plan."

**A/N: About Xander's sword, I just thought it would be cool if there was a nonmagical weapon for once, but you if you guys seriously don't like it, let me know in a review and I can just make him lose it in another chapter. Anyway, review and let me know what you thought.**


End file.
